SANTA MARIA, Calif. — Michael Jackson had two lawyers defending him Friday — Thomas Mesereau, his current criminal defense attorney, and his former attorney Mark Geragos, who took the stand in the pop star's molestation trial in an attempt to distance Jackson from conspiracy charges.

Geragos represented Jackson during the time he is accused of molesting a 13-year-old boy and conspiring to falsely imprison the child and his family at Neverland. He was fired shortly after the singer's arrest in November 2003.

And though he was involved with some of the actions by taken Jackson's aides and alleged co-conspirators, Geragos told jurors Friday that he was never part of any conspiracy or crimes against the family.

"I was trying to prevent a crime against my client," Geragos said.

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"And what crime was that?" Mesereau asked.

"I thought that [the accuser's family] was going to shake him down," Geragos said.

Prosecutors allege that Jackson and his five unindicted co-conspirators — Ronald Konitzer, Dieter Wiesner, Vinnie Amen, Marc Schaffel and Frank Tyson — held the family against their will in February and March 2003, surreptitiously taped their conversations, and secretly videotaped their every move.

But Geragos testified that he was responsible for initiating a full investigation into the accuser's family shortly after meeting them at Neverland in early February 2003.

"The things I was hearing about the [family] gave me great pause," Geragos told jurors.

"What did you hear?" Mesereau asked.

"When I was sitting up there that day, somebody told me a story that [the accuser] was told to refer to Michael as 'Daddy.' Michael was uncomfortable with that," Geragos said.

Prosecutors allege that Jackson told the accuser to call him "Daddy Michael," as was his habit with the young boys he was allegedly grooming as a means to molest them.

The defense contends that the accuser's mother told the boy to call him "Daddy" because she was trying to ingratiate her children with the superstar entertainer.

Geragos said he began with a database search on the family and was "gravely concerned" after learning that the mother had been involved in a civil lawsuit against JCPenney.

"It is not unknown to me that my client is frequently the target of litigation," Geragos said. He hired private investigator Bradley Miller to track the family's movements.

"I told Brad, 'Tell me where they are, tell me what they're doing, and tell me who they're meeting with,'" Geragos testified. He said he was concerned the family would try to sell false stories to the tabloids.

Prosecutors previously showed jurors videotapes confiscated from Miller's office. The grainy images appeared to prove that the accuser, his mother, siblings, grandparents and even the mother's boyfriend were under surveillance.

Geragos told jurors Friday that he ordered the surveillance as part of the investigation into the family, and that it was perfectly legal.

"I've done it on more than one occasion. I know most lawyers do it with frequency. I know DAs do it and law enforcement does it," he said.

During a heated cross-examination, however, Geragos admitted that it was not until mid-March — after the family had already left Neverland for good — that he finally told Jackson's business manager Konitzer that they should "cut ties" with the accuser and his family.

Calm and collected

Geragos, best known for representing convicted murderer Scott Peterson, was cool and calm on the witness stand. When asked to give a summary of his career, he opted for brevity.

"I went to college, I went to law school, I passed the bar," he deadpanned, to bemused laughter from the court.

"That was a little long-winded, wasn't it?" Mesereau returned.

Geragos said he had been retained in late January or early February of 2003, after a media firestorm erupted after journalist Martin Bashir's damaging documentary, "Living with Michael Jackson."

Initially, his focus was to defend Jackson from complaints being made to the Department of Children and Family Services about his fitness as a parent. Jackson, who has three children, was seen in the documentary dangling his infant child from a hotel balcony to impress his screaming fans below.

Geragos said that he had a series of conference calls with Jackson's aides, but that the singer was usually not on those calls. When he did speak with Jackson, it was for brief periods.

"Ronald Konitzer was, from my perspective, the backstop — the person who was running things," Geragos said.

His testimony may have buttressed the defense's contention that Jackson was on the sidelines and unaware of the strong-arm tactics of his aides during the time the family was allegedly being held captive.

At the boiling point

Tempers heated up, however, during an intense cross-examination.

Prosecutor Ronald Zonen was told to "take it down two degrees" by Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville after a particularly heated exchange about whether or not Geragos had asked Jackson if he was "sleeping with boys."

"Are you implying it was sexual?" Geragos asked Zonen, refusing to answer "Yes" or "No" to the prosecutor's questions.

Mesereau lodged a flurry of objections when Zonen cut the witness' answers short, not allowing Geragos to elaborate on why he believed Jackson's "sleeping with children" comments on the Bashir documentary were misconstrued.

Geragos ultimately testified that Jackson told him nothing happened with the accuser, and that the fact that he innocently allowed children to sleep in his bed was nothing more than "an act of unconditional love."

Judge Melville called a "time-out" for all three attorneys, telling Zonen to "go ahead, relax a minute."

But Mesereau received the brunt of the judge's ire by day's end, over what he deemed a "misrepresentation" to the court.

At one point, Geragos was asked about when he learned the details of Jackson's 1993 multimillion dollar settlement with Jordie Chandler, a boy the singer has been accused of molesting, although he was never charged.

Geragos explained that he couldn't answer the question, because the attorney-client waiver from Jackson, permitting him to testify, was only for a specific time period: from the date he was retained until the time he was fired. Presumably, his answer would have caused him to testify about events beyond that time period.

"Take the jury out, please," the judge told the bailiff in a stern voice, sending the jurors out so he could privately admonish the defense attorney.

"You didn't indicate there was any limitation on that waiver," Melville said to Mesereau.

The defense attorney apologized, and explained that he didn't believe any questions beyond the period of Geragos' representation of Jackson would be relevant.

However, upon the jury's return, Zonen launched into a series of questions that Geragos refused to answer, because they referred to times when he didn't represent Jackson.

Geragos will return to court on May 20, when the judge is expected to have ruled on whether or not he can be questioned about events that transpired beyond the waiver.

"I don't think it's productive to proceed this way," the judge announced before excusing the jury seven minutes early.

Jackson, 46, is charged with ten counts, including conspiring to falsely imprison the boy and his family, sexually molesting him, and giving him alcohol as a means to committing the felonious acts. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.